NEW DELHI, Nov 19 — Indian police arrested 68 people taking part in protests around a flashpoint Hindu temple, after a plea was made to the Supreme Court today seeking more time to follow an order to let women enter.

The Sabarimala temple in the southern state of Kerala has become a major battleground between Hindu radicals and gender activists.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims have thronged to the hilltop shrine since it reopened Friday amid unprecedented security.

The region has been increasingly tense with Hindu organisations and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposing the Supreme Court order to let women in the temple. There have been several protests and strikes.

Many pilgrims going to Sabarimala have also complained about restrictions on their movement during the new clampdown.

The Kerala government sent thousands of police to the region fearing a repeat of pitch battles around the temple in October, when the temple first reopened after the Supreme Court ordered the lifting of a longstanding ban on women between the ages of 10 and 50.

Police said many of those arrested late Sunday had been protesting against a ban on spending the night on the hilltop around the temple.

Devotees, many shirtless in line with the tradition followed by pilgrims, chanted mantras as they faced off with police.

“What the police has done is wrong. I am here with other locals to protest against the arrest of devotees,” Raghunathan Nair, one demonstrator told AFP.

He was one of more than 100 people who protested outside a police camp, where all the arrested devotees were being their court hearing.

Dozens of women took part in protests, all chanting mantras and slogans to praise Lord Ayyappa, the celibate deity of Sabarimala temple.

About 700 women have registered to pray at the temple over coming weeks however none has yet made it to the hilltop.

Protesters stopped one leading woman activist from leaving the state’s main airport to get to Sabarimala.

The board which manages Sabarimala temple approached the Supreme Court Monday to lodge a plea for more time to admit women, citing a lack of infrastructure.

The temple board had expected a decision from the court today, but no date has yet been given for the court to hear the case to delay its ruling.

In January, the country’s highest court will also hear challenges to its decision to lift the ban on women. — AFP

MADRID, Nov 19 — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government, which is struggling to pass its draft 2019 budget, would not rule out holding an early general election, a top cabinet minister said Monday.

Asked about the possibility of the government calling snap polls to coincide with European, regional and municipal elections on May 26, Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said: “Of course, we can’t rule out anything.”

“You can’t venture anything, between now and May there is a lot of time,” said Abalos, a heavyweight in the ruling Socialist party who is close to the prime minister.

Sanchez, who took over in June from the conservative Mariano Rajoy after a surprise no-confidence vote, has up until now vowed to stay in office until 2020 when the next general election is due.

But conservative opposition parties have repeatedly pressed for early elections, arguing that the government of Sanchez, whose party controls just 84 seats in the 350-seat parliament, is not viable.

“When we will have (elections), and we will logically have elections because we are a democracy, will be known,” Sanchez said when asked about the transport minister’s comments during a press conference in Morocco.

To pass his draft budget, Sanchez needs the support of the parties that brought him to power in June, including Catalan separatist parties which have so far steadfastly refused to back the spending plan.

Failure to pass the budget would force the government to roll over this year’s budget, which was drafted by the previous conservative government, and try to pass some of the announced measures by decree.

“Does it make sense that a government which has 84 seats governs by decree... What would be sensible would be to hold elections,” Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the far-left Podemos party which is the Socialists’ main ally in parliament, said Friday.

Podemos leaders will hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday to prepare for “any possibility proposed by the government, be it snap elections this year, next year, or whenever they decide,” said Podemos spokeswoman Noelia Vera.

Only the prime minister has the power to dissolve parliament and call a general election.

Under Spanish law, Sanchez would have to do so by April 1 at the latest for the vote to be held on May 26.

The Socialists are leading in the polls, with 31.6 percent support, more than 13 points ahead of the main opposition conservative Popular Party, according to a closely-watched survey by state pollster CIS last month. — AFP

THE HAGUE, Nov 19 — World powers traded accusations of hypocrisy in bitter clashes today over the global toxic weapons watchdog’s new ability to attribute blame for attacks like those in Syria and Salisbury.

The United States and Britain went head-to-head with Russia, China and Syria over the boosted powers that members agreed to give the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in June.

At a tense meeting in The Hague, Moscow and Beijing were accused of trying to stall the watchdog’s new role indefinitely by proposing that the changes be subjected to “open ended” scrutiny before going live.

US Ambassador Kenneth Ward said Russia’s claims that the OPCW’s new powers were illegitimate were “pungent hypocrisy”, and warned against allowing a “new era of chemical weapons use to take hold”.

“What have they done for the last few years but to connive with their Syrian ally to bury the truth of what has happened in Syria, along with the dead killed by the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime,” Ward said.

“And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Salisbury comes along.”

The West pushed through the new powers after a string of chemical attacks in Syria, as well as a nerve agent attack on Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal in the British city of Salisbury in March.

Britain accused Russia of carrying out the attack using a Soviet-era chemical called Novichok and the West has since imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow.

British envoy to the OPCW Peter Wilson called any attempt to limit the watchdog’s power to attribute blame for chemical attacks “unacceptable”.

‘Out and out lies’

But Russia’s envoy Alexander Shulgin hit back, saying that Western claims of chemical weapons use by Damascus and Moscow were a “scam” and “out and out lies”.

He added that Russia had a “principled position regarding the illegitimacy” of the new investigative powers, adding that they “infringe on the properties of the UN Security Council”, where Russia has a veto.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad meanwhile launched a fierce broadside at the US and Britain.

“You have taught people to use chemical weapons, you have used chemical weapons in the first two world wars. The Syrian government has never used chemical weapons,” he said.

“Where is your morality? This is sheer hypocrisy and sheer lies, I wish to use such undiplomatic language.”

The meeting is also the first since the expulsion of four Russians accused by Dutch authorities in October of trying to hack into the OPCW’s computer system, using electronic equipment hidden in a car parked outside a nearby hotel.

At the time the organisation was investigating the attack on Skripal as well as a major chemical attack in Syria.

The OPCW says the two-week meeting of the 193 member countries is meant to “discuss the future of the organisation”.

‘Strong and unified resolve’ -

New OPCW director-general Fernando Arias warned in his opening address on Monday that the “international norm against the use of chemical weapons has come under strain”.

“Their repeated use poses a challenge that must be met with strong and unified resolve,” he added.

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, the OPCW is responsible for upholding the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention to end the use of all toxic arms.

So far it says it has overseen the destruction of 96.5 percent of the world’s chemical arms stocks.

But in recent years it has seen its role expand to cover the investigation of a wave of chemicals attacks in the Syrian civil war, as well as the Salisbury attack and the 2017 killing in Malaysia of a half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A “very small but very strong” investigative team will start work early next year with a mandate to go back and try to attribute blame for all chemical attacks in Syria since 2013, Arias said.

The watchdog will also be able to point the finger for future attacks anywhere in the world, so long as it is asked to by the country on whose territory where the incident happened. — AFP

FRANKFURT, Nov 19 — German prosecutors asked a court today to sentence a man accused of an April 2017 bomb attack on Borussia Dortmund’s team bus to life in prison.

Defendant Sergej Wenergold committed almost 30 attempted murders by attacking the bus with three improvised bombs as it left the team’s hotel, lead prosecutor Carsten Dombert said.

He also faces charges of causing an explosion and two counts of causing serious injury, with judges expected to deliver their verdict next week.

The Russian-born German citizen has admitted to placing the bombs, but claims he did not aim to kill anyone—each contained up to a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of a hydrogen peroxide mixture and dozens of metal bolts.

Prosecutors say he in fact aimed to kill as many players as possible, hoping to profit financially after buying so-called put options—essentially a bet on the club’s share price falling.

Wenergold left letters supposed to hint at an Islamist terrorist background at the scene, as well as far left or far right extremist groups.

But police eventually joined the dots after realising that the trained electrician had stayed in the same hotel as the Dortmund players on the eve of their Champions’ League match against Monaco.

Hidden in a hedge, the explosives were badly positioned and in the end succeeded only in breaking Spanish defender Marc Bartra’s wrist and damaging a police officer’s hearing.

Several Dortmund players including Bartra gave emotional testimony during the trial about the trauma they suffered during the attack. — AFP

ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 — Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan today lashed out at US President Donald Trump following his remarks that Pakistan doesn’t “do a damn thing” for the United States despite billions of dollars in US aid for the South Asian nation.

The friction threatens to further worsen already fragile relations between Islamabad and Washington, on-off allies who have repeatedly clashed about the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s alleged support for Islamist militants.

Khan, who assumed power in August and is known for his fiery anti-American rhetoric, said in a series of tweets that “record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump’s tirade against Pakistan” over the weekend.

Trump, during a Fox News TV interview aired yesterday, defended cutting aid to Islamabad and also suggested Pakistani authorities knew Osama bin Laden’s location prior to his killing by US troops in a raid inside Pakistan in 2011.

“Instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140000 Nato troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops & reportedly US$1 trillion (RM4.19 trillion) spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before,” Khan tweeted.

Trump, in a pre-recorded interview, said bin Laden had been living in “a nice mansion” in Pakistan next to a military academy and “everybody in Pakistan knew he was there”.

“And we give Pakistan US$1.3 billion a year. ...(bin Laden) lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them US$1.3 billion a year - which we don’t give them anymore, by the way. I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us.”

Khan said Pakistan had borne the brunt of the United States’ war on terror, which focused on militants that straddle the Afghanistan-Pakistan tribal belt.

“No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror,” Khan said. “Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war & over US$123 bn was lost to economy. US “aid” was a minuscule $20 bn.”

Khan also pointed out that Pakistan continued to provide its roads and air space for the re-supply for more than 10,000 US troops currently based in Afghanistan.

TOKYO, Nov 19 — Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, one of the world’s best-known businessmen, was reportedly under arrest in Japan today in a shocking fall from grace linked to allegations of financial misconduct.

Japan’s public broadcaster NHK and other media outlets said Ghosn had been arrested after being questioned by Japanese prosecutors for various improprieties including underreporting his income.

Nissan said it had been investigating its chairman for months and would now move to fire him.

The news sent shockwaves through the auto industry, where Ghosn is a towering figure who is credited with turning around several major manufacturers and leads an alliance of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi.

“The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office arrested Nissan chairman Ghosn on suspicion of violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act,” NHK said.

In a statement, Nissan said it had been conducting a probe into Ghosn for several months after receiving a whistleblower report and had uncovered misconduct going back several years.

The Tokyo prosecutor’s office had no comment on the reports about Ghosn. Mitsubishi also declined comment.

Nissan said it had launched an investigation into both Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly several months ago.

“The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn’s compensation,” the statement said.

“Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Kelly’s deep involvement has also been confirmed.”

The company said it had provided information to Japanese prosecutors and would propose to the board of directors that it “promptly remove Ghosn from his positions” along with Kelly.

The astonishing news first emerged Monday evening, when the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported Ghosn was being questioned by prosecutors and was likely to face arrest.

Japanese media later said Tokyo prosecutors were raiding Nissan’s headquarters in the city of Yokohama.

The Kyodo news agency said Ghosn was suspected of understating his income by ¥5 billion, or around RM190 million, over five years from 2011. It also reported that Kelly had been arrested.

Renault shares plunged more than 12 percent in late morning trading in Paris on the news, which emerged after the end of the Tokyo session. The firm has not commented.

‘Man of charisma’

Ghosn’s arrest would “rock the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance as he is the keystone of the alliance,” said Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm.

“He is the man of charisma for the alliance. It is likely to have a negative impact on its brand image,” he told AFP.

Nicknamed Le Cost Killer, Brazil-born Ghosn, 64, is known for overhauling Renault and Nissan starting in the nineties.

Renault came to the rescue of the then-ailing Japanese automaker in 1999 and parachuted in Ghosn, who set about slashing costs and jobs in a huge corporate overhaul.

In 2016, Ghosn also took charge at troubled Mitsubishi after Nissan threw it a lifeline, buying a one-third stake for about $2.2 billion as it wrestled with a mileage-cheating scandal that hammered sales.

He is credited with saving Nissan from bankruptcy through a series of hardnosed measures including closing plants and restructuring, and he has instant name recognition in Japan, where he is a rare, high profile foreign executive.

Ghosn has been regarded as the glue holding together the sprawling alliance of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and questions have been raised in the past about how his eventual departure might affect the coalition.

Earlier this year he told AFP there were “no taboos” in the relationship between the auto firms, and said they were looking to increase convergence, while remaining independent.

The group’s Alliance 2022 plan, unveiled last year, targets making more than 10 billion euros in cost savings over the five years and raising sales to 14 million vehicles.

Ghosn has not yet commented on the allegations. Nissan is expected to hold a press conference later today. — AFP

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 20:43:40 +0800carlos ghosnhttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1695026/indonesia-president-urges-woman-to-be-jailed-in-harassment-case-to-seek-jus
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1695026/indonesia-president-urges-woman-to-be-jailed-in-harassment-case-to-seek-jusWhile he could not intervene in the case, Joko Widodo said the teacher should seek a judicial review. — Reuters pic

JAKARTA, Nov 19 — Indonesian President Joko Widodo said today that a teacher sentenced to jail for spreading an “immoral” audio tape documenting alleged sexual harassment by the school principal should seek a judicial review.

In a case that has shocked many Indonesians, the Supreme Court annnounced last week that Baiq Nuril Maknun, 37, would be jailed for six months for recording and spreading “information violating decency”. She was also fined 500 million rupiah (RM143,560).

Widowo said he could not intervene in the case, but said Maknun should request a judicial review.

“If later she does not find justice through a judicial review she can request clemency to the president, that’s the procedure,” he said in a statement.

“When the clemency request has been submitted, then it will be on my turf.”

Indonesia’s #MeToo movement has gained some traction on social media with women sharing their experiences of sexual harassment but in a mainly conservative society has yet to trigger the type of impact it has had in the West.

According to media reports, Maknun was harassed by the head of a school where she worked as a contract teacher on the island of Lombok, including through sexually explicit and abusive comments on her cell phone.

She made a recording of one of the calls and it was later obtained by a co-worker in 2014 and subsequently spread on social media. In 2015, the school principal reported Maknun to police.

A court document said that Maknun had recorded the phone call without the knowledge of the headmaster and gave the recording to a third person and distributed it using an electronic device causing the principal to lose his job.

Prosecutors had taken the case to the Supreme Court after it was rejected by the court in Lombok.

“This absurd ruling by the Supreme Court appears to jail someone just for documenting the abuse they were subjected to from their employer,” Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director, said in a statement.

More than 111,000 signatures have been submitted on an online petition demanding clemency for Maknun.

Joko Jumadi, Maknun’s lawyer, said his client intended to file a judicial review once the Supreme Court had provided a full verdict explaining its decision. — Reuters

TOKYO, Nov 19 — Nissan Motor Co Ltd said it planned to oust Chairman Carlos Ghosn after alleging he had used company money for personal use and committed other serious acts of misconduct.

Japanese media reported that Ghosn, who is also chairman and chief executive of Nissan’s French partner Renault and one of the best known figures in the global car industry, had been arrested.

The Japanese automaker said that based on a whistleblower report, it had been investigating possible improper practices by Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly for several months, and that it was fully cooperating with investigators.

“The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn’s compensation,” Nissan said in a statement.

Neither Ghosn nor Kelly could be reached for comment.

The company said it would brief reporters tonight, with Japanese media reporting this would take place at 9pm Tokyo time (1200 GMT/8pm Malaysian time) to provide details.

It said CEO Hiroto Saikawa would propose that the Nissan board remove Ghosn and Kelly.

Shares slide

Renault shares tumbled 13 per cent in Paris to be among the worst performing stocks in Europe. Nissan’s German-listed securities plunged 12 per cent.

Ousting Ghosn, 64, is bound to raise questions about the future of the alliance that he personally shaped and had pledged to consolidate with a deeper tie-up, before eventually stepping back from its operational leadership.

The current alliance structure has long undervalued Nissan shares held indirectly by Renault investors, he added.

“Ghosn is viewed as critical for value unlock.”

Turnaround

The reports came as a shock in Japan where Ghosn, a rare foreign top executive, is well regarded for having turned Nissan around from near bankruptcy.

The Asahi newspaper reported on its website that prosecutors had begun searching the offices of Nissan’s headquarters and other locations on Monday evening.

Spokesmen for Renault and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance did not immediately return calls and messages seeking comment on the arrest reports.

Brazilian-born, of Lebanese descent and a French citizen, Ghosn began his career at Michelin in France, moving on to Renault. He joined Nissan in 1999 after Renault bought a controlling stake and became its CEO in 2001. Ghosn remained in that post till last year.

In June, Renault shareholders approved Ghosn’s €7.4 million (RM35.3 million) compensation for 2017. In addition to this, he received €9.2 million in his final year as Nissan chief executive. — Reuters

PARIS, Nov 19 — French protesters angered by higher fuel taxes blocked access to three oil depots today, including two run by Total, the company said, as protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies entered a third day.

Thousands of people took part in demonstrations on motorways across France over the weekend, sparking major logjams and several accidents, including a fatality at one road blockade.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Sunday the government would remain firm on its plan to increase the fuel tax from January 1.

Two of the depots, one in Vern, near the northwest city of Rennes, and the other in Fos-sur-Mer in the south, are operated by Total, the spokesman said.

Access to a third depot at La Rochelle, part-owned by not run by Total, was also blocked, the spokesman said.

Anger at the fuel tax hikes coincides with a perceived squeeze in spending power and dissatisfaction with Macron, who some accuse of favouring the wealthy in his economic programme.

On Saturday about 280,000 people attended the protests, according to the interior ministry, some of which turned violent. Around 160 people were arrested and more than 400 injured in sporadic clashes.

Organisers have vowed to continue the movement - dubbed “les gilets jaunes” after the neon, high visibility vests some protesters wear - until the government drops the taxes. — Reuters

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 18:27:51 +0800france protestshttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694999/no-better-brexit-deal-available-eu-ministers-tell-britain
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694999/no-better-brexit-deal-available-eu-ministers-tell-britainMichael Roth said there was no deal that could be better than the one hammered out — Reuters pic

BRUSSELS, Nov 19 — Germany and other European Union states told Britain today their draft Brexit agreement could not be renegoitated.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is battling at home to keep the last week’s deal alive and push it through the British parliament amid criticism from pro-Brexit politicians, Northern Ireland’s unionists and those who want to keep closer EU ties.

“No deal better than the one on the table can be reached,” Germany’s European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said. Economy minister Peter Altmaier also dismissed any prospect of a return to the drafting table.

More than two years after Britons voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, the sides have reached a tentative divorce agreement and are working on an outline of their future ties to accompany that.

Though the fate of the accord is unclear on the British side, the EU is preparing for a summit next Sunday of all its national leaders that is meant to rubber-stamp the agreement.

They are also advancing their contingency planning for the scenario of a no-deal Brexit in which the sides would fail to seal their agreement and the United Kingdom is cut off on March 29, 2019, with very little in place to mitigate the economic and other disruptions.

“Any deal is better than no deal,” Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told reporters on arrival to talks of national EU ministers about Brexit in Brussels. “I think that it’s in the interests of the United Kingdom and the European Union...that this deal becomes reality.”

Belgium’s Didier Reynders echoed that and the Netherlands’ Stef Blok called for an “ambitious” vision of the EU-British future ties in the political declaration that the sides are working on now to accompany the divorce deal.

“We hope that we will not have to reopen negotiations,” the Czech Republic’s Ales Chmelar said. — Reuters

JERUSALEM, Nov 19 — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition crisis eased on Monday when a coalition partner backed off a demand to be given the defence ministry, making an early election less likely.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s U-turn surprised many pundits, who had predicted the leader of the far-right Jewish Home party would opt to quit in protest. He said the party was withdrawing all its political demands and would stand by the prime minister.

“You win some, you lose some,” Bennett said in a televised address, shrugging off Netanyahu’s rejection of his bid.

Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, has been making last-ditch efforts to prevent the collapse of the government, which has had a majority of just one seat in parliament since Avigdor Lieberman resigned as defence chief last week.

Had Bennett withdrawn his party from the weakened coalition, Netanyahu - who has assumed the defence post himself - would have been left with a minority government, making a snap election likely.

Lieberman, an ultranationalist, lashed out in his resignation announcement against what he described as the government’s leniency towards Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, amid a surge in cross-border violence.

In a speech late on Sunday, Netanyahu urged coalition partners not to bring down the government, citing security challenges ahead and hinting at future action by Israel against its enemies.

An opinion poll last week suggested that Israelis were unhappy with the four-term prime minister over Gaza, causing a rare dip in his popularity ratings.

“We have an entire year until the election. We are in the midst of a campaign and you don’t pull out in the middle of a campaign or play politics. National security is beyond politics,” Netanyahu said in his speech on Sunday.

“I will not say this evening when we will act and how. I have a clear plan. I know what to do and when to do it. And we will do it.”

Bennett referred to Netanyahu’s address in saying that Jewish Home, which has eight of parliament’s 120 legislators, would remain in his coalition.

“If the prime minister is serious, and I want to believe his words last night, then I say here to the prime minister: We are withdrawing all our political demands and we will stand by you in this mighty task, so that Israel starts winning again.” — Reuters

LOS ANGELES, Nov 19 — Emergency services today sifted through the charred wreckage of California’s deadliest ever wildfire, searching for signs of nearly 1,000 people believed still missing as crews made progress in bringing the blaze under control.

The remains of 77 people have been recovered, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said late yesterday, as it cut the number of missing to 993 from 1,276. It gave no other details.

The Camp Fire broke out in Northern California on Nov. 8 and last week all but obliterated Paradise, a mountain town of nearly 27,000 people around 90 miles (145 km) north of state capital Sacramento.

Officials said it had consumed about 150,000 acres and was 65 percent contained late on Sunday, up from 60 percent earlier in the day, as prospects of a heavy rainstorm from late Tuesday onwards raised hopes that that percentage will rise as the week progresses.

They said full containment was not expected until Nov. 30, however.

Up to four inches (10 cm) of rain are forecast to fall north of San Francisco between late Tuesday and Friday, said Patrick Burke, a forecaster at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.

“This weather system is locked in,” he said.

The rain would also make it harder for forensic teams sifting through ash and dirt looking for the bones of the dead. “The rain will easily disturb the soil where remains might be found,” Burke said.

Pathologists from the University of Nevada, Reno, worked through the weekend as firefighters peeled back debris, collecting bits of burned bones and photographing everything that might help identify the victims.

The storm, which is expected to carry moderate winds of 15-20 mph could also cause problems for evacuees, hundreds of whom are sheltering in tens and cars.

It isn’t clear how many people are in need of shelter but as many as 52,000 people had been ordered to evacuate

“While it isn’t an exceptionally strong storm, the recent burns make mud slides on hills and slopes a real danger,” Burke said.

South of Sacramento near Malibu, at least two inches of rain are expected to fall on a second fire, the Woolsey. Known to have killed three people, it was 88 per cent contained on Sunday and full containment was expected on Thanksgiving Thursday.

The cause of both fires is under investigation, but electric utilities reported localized equipment problems around the time they broke out.

PG&E Corp has said it could face liability that exceeds its insurance coverage if its equipment were found to have caused the Camp Fire. — Reuters

BEIJING, Nov 19 — A Chinese court’s 10-year jail term for an author of a homoerotic book found guilty of profiting from selling “obscene” literature has been met with disbelief among some internet users who question how the crime could warrant so severe a punishment.

The author, surnamed Liu, was found guilty on Oct. 31 by Wuhu county court in eastern Anhui province after she self-published a book that “obscenely and in detail described gay male-male acts”, according to state media.

The court ruled that the strict sentence was enforced due to her having made 150,000 yuan (RM90,501) by selling over 7,000 copies, the article said.

The case went viral on Chinese social media at the weekend as commentators asked how such a punishment made sense when some sexual assault cases often drew lighter sentences.

One user shared an article about a case from 2010 when a man was jailed for 18 months for imprisoning children and commented: “I don’t understand the law, but there have been people who did things as inhuman as this and only get a year and a half.

Some commentators suggested Liu’s book should not be banned as gay erotic content known as “bl” or “BoysLove” is important for Chinese men to discover their sexuality.

“I also watch ‘bl’, because my family has traditional values,” one user wrote about the case. “Seeing this news today, and based on this kind of criminal law, I expect we will have to wait thousands of years for homosexuality to be legalised.”

Pornography has long been illegal in China, but in recent years, the Communist Party has intensified efforts to clear away what it sees as inappropriate content, introducing new legislation, rewards and punishments to help its aims.

Authorities on Saturday launched a campaign to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications” by offering heightened rewards of up to 600,000 yuan for reporting banned content to the police, starting from December.

In April, Weibo announced a decision to remove pornographic, violent or gay content, singling out manga animations that often depict raunchy gay male relationships, but then reversed its decision after widespread criticism. — Reuters

LONDON, Nov 19 — British Prime Minister Theresa May will seek to win support from business leaders for her contentious draft European Union divorce deal today as dissenters in her own party scrambled to trigger a leadership challenge.

May has had a tumultuous few days since unveiling her deal on Wednesday last week, with several ministers, including her Brexit minister, resigning and some of her own members of parliament seeking to oust her.

The British leader has vowed to fight on, on Sunday warning that toppling her risked delaying Britain’s EU exit, and has said the future partnership agreement will help ensure the government delivers on the 2016 Brexit vote.

The EU is due to hold a summit to discuss the deal on Nov. 25.

May will defend her deal in a speech to the CBI business lobby group’s annual conference on Monday, saying Britain would embark on an intense week of Brexit negotiations to try to thrash out the details of its outline future relationship with the EU.

“We now have an intense week of negotiations ahead of us in the run-up to the special European Council on Sunday,” May will say, according to advance extracts.

“During that time I expect us to hammer out the full and final details of the framework that will underpin our future relationship and I am confident that we can strike a deal at the council that I can take back to the House of Commons.”

More than two years after the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, it is still unclear how, on what terms or even if it will leave as planned on March 29, 2019 with business leaders fearful that Britain could leave the bloc with no deal in place.

May will say the withdrawal agreement set out last week, which has been strongly criticised by lawmakers on both sides of the EU debate meaning it will struggle to win the backing of parliament, is a good deal for Britain.

However, Brexit-supporting rebels in her own Conservative party who believe the deal will leave Britain in indefinite subjugation to the EU are attempting to trigger a confidence vote in her leadership.

To prompt such a vote, 48 of her Conservative lawmakers must submit a letter to the chairman of the party’s so-called 1922 committee, Graham Brady who said on Sunday the 48 threshold had not yet been reached.

The Sun newspaper said the rebels were six letters short but one of those calling for May to go said Monday would be a day of reckoning.

“This is absolutely the day at which we stand at the bar of history on this,” Simon Clarke told BBC radio, adding “this day must be the point at which ... action is taken”.

Critics like Clarke say May’s deal risked dividing the United Kingdom by aligning Northern Ireland more closely with the EU’s customs rules than mainland Britain.

May “driving ship at the rocks”

The DUP, a small Northern Irish party which props up May’s minority government, has threatened to pull its support if the backstop means the province is treated differently from the rest of the United Kingdom.

“If we continue with this plan we are simply not going to have a government because the clear threat it poses to the integrity of the union is something which our colleagues the DUP will simply put up with,” Clarke said. “It is quite clear to me that the captain is driving the ship at the rocks.”

Also speaking at the CBI conference, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will describe the deal as “a botched, worst-of-all-worlds deal which is bad for Britain, leaving the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say”.

Corbyn, who has said his party will not support May’s deal when parliament is asked to vote on it, will say Labour’s plan for Brexit would include a new comprehensive and permanent customs union, and a “strong single market relationship”.

“The government is trying to force a bad deal that doesn’t meet our country’s needs by threatening us all with the chaos and serious damage to our economy of a no deal outcome,” he will say. “The Prime Minister knows that no deal isn’t a real option. Neither the cabinet nor parliament would endorse such an extreme and dangerous course.”

May will tell the business leaders that the deal will allow Britain to control immigration, concerns over which were a key driver behind the Brexit vote.

“It will no longer be the case that EU nationals, regardless of the skills or experience they have to offer, can jump the queue ahead of engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi,” she will say.

“We want an immigration system for the future that everyone can have confidence in. Yes, a system that works for business. One that allows us to attract the brightest and the best from around the world, more streamlined application and entry processes.” — Reuters

PHNOM PENH, Nov 19 — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said this morning there would never be a foreign military base in his country, following a news report that China was lobbying for a naval base in southwest Koh Kong province.

The Asia Times, citing unidentified diplomatic sources and analysts, reported on Thursday that Beijing had been lobbying Cambodia since 2017 for the naval base, which could host frigates, destroyers and other vessels of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

“Does Cambodia need to violate its Constitution to allow a foreign military base on Cambodian territory?” Information Minister Khieu Kanharith quoted Hun Sen as saying on Facebook during a Cabinet meeting this morning.

“With whom does Cambodia need foreign troops to fight with?,” Hun Sen said, according to Khieu Kanharith. “And I do not need foreigners to fight in Cambodian territory like in the past, nor does Cambodia allow her to be a place for ideology or weapon experiment,” he said.

The possible naval base is thought to be part of a project by China’s Tianjin Union Development Group (UDG), which began work in 2008 on 45,000 hectares of land in a national park for 99 years.

There has been little information about the US$3.8 billion project or its progress.

UDG was also to spend US$45 million on the port, which The Asia Times report described as a naval base.

Cambodia-based Sawac Consultants for Development, commissioned by Cambodia’s environment ministry, said the port would be able to handle up to four 20,000-tonne container ships.

The port was guarded by Cambodian military and appeared unfinished when Reuters visited in June.

China, Hun Sen’s strongest regional ally, has poured billions of dollars in development assistance and loans into Cambodia through bilateral frameworks and China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The initiative, unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to bolster a sprawling network of land and sea links with Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

It has attracted a flood of Chinese commercial ventures in Cambodia, including casinos and special economic zones. — Reuters

LONDON, Nov 19 — Opponents of British Prime Minister Theresa May are six letters short of the threshold to trigger a no confidence vote, The Sun newspaper reported today.

The Sun said that 42 lawmakers in May’s Conservative Party had given firm assurances that they had submitted no confidence letters, short of the 48 needed.

The Sun said 25 had publicly declared they have submitted letters while a further 17 have privately said they have written to Graham Brady, who collects a list of names anonymously in his role as chairman of the Tory 1922 committee. — Reuters

NEW YORK, Nov 19 — Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday he’s giving US$1.8 billion (RM7.55 billion) for financial aid at Johns Hopkins University, believed to be the largest ever donation to a post-secondary institution.

Bloomberg said he was making the gift to help qualified low- and middle-income students more easily afford access to university in a country where post-secondary education fees at elite schools often exceed US$50,000 a year, a prohibitive barrier for most families.

“I was lucky: My father was a bookkeeper who never made more than US$6,000 a year. But I was able to afford Johns Hopkins University through a National Defense student loan, and by holding down a job on campus,” Bloomberg wrote in a New York Times op-ed.

“My Hopkins diploma opened up doors that otherwise would have been closed, and allowed me to live the American dream.”

Bloomberg, who made his first donation to Hopkins the year after he graduated -- just US$5 -- has since already provided US$1.5 billion for research, teaching and financial aid.

The new donation will come on top of that, and serve as financial aid for qualified students from lower family income levels.

“I want to be sure that the school that gave me a chance will be able to permanently open that same door of opportunity for others,” Bloomberg wrote.

“This will make admissions at Hopkins forever need-blind; finances will never again factor into decisions. The school will be able to offer more generous levels of financial aid, replacing loans for many students with scholarship grants.

“It will ease the burden of debt for many graduates. And it will make the campus more socioeconomically diverse.”

He did, however, acknowledge that his donation was only helping one school in a country where more students come from the top one percent of earners than from the bottom 60 percent of the income scale at dozens of elite colleges.

And that’s despite the fact that many lower-income students have the qualifications to be accepted, Bloomberg stressed.

“These steps alone are not sufficient. Federal grants have not kept pace with rising costs, and states have slashed student aid. Private donations cannot and should not make up for the lack of government support,” he added.

“Together, the federal and state governments should make a new commitment to improving access to college and reducing the often prohibitive burdens debt places on so many students and families.

“There may be no better investment that we can make in the future of the American dream -- and the promise of equal opportunity for all.” — AFP

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 15:25:49 +0800us,education,usa,michael bloomberg,donationhttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694953/kremlin-says-putin-told-pence-russia-did-not-meddle-in-us-election
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694953/kremlin-says-putin-told-pence-russia-did-not-meddle-in-us-electionRussia's President Vladimir Putin speaks with US Vice President Mike Pence during a meeting on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore November 15, 2018. — Reuters pic

MOSCOW, Nov 19 — Russian President Vladimir Putin told US Vice President Mike Pence Russia had nothing to do with meddling in the 2016 US election, Interfax reported today, during discussions about an upcoming meeting between Putin and President Donald Trump.

Putin and Pence spoke in Singapore last week about key issues that could be discussed at the meeting between the two leaders, expected to take place at the G20 summit in Argentina in late November, a Kremlin spokesman said.

Pence raised the issue of external meddling in the US election but Putin told him that “the Russian state had nothing to do ... and can not have anything to do with meddling” in any electoral processes, Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. — Reuters

SEOUL, Nov 19 — The North Korean soldier who defected to the South in a hail of bullets last year is a general’s son but says most Northerners of his age have no loyalty to Kim Jong-un, according to a Japanese newspaper.

Oh Chong Song’s dramatic dash across the border at the Panmunjom truce village in the Demilitarised Zone — under fire from his comrades — made global headlines last year, and saw him hospitalised with serious injuries.

It is very rare for the North’s troops to defect at Panmunjom, a major tourist attraction and the only place on the frontier where forces from the two sides come face-to-face.

The 25-year-old Oh is the son of a major-general, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported, in what it said was the defector’s first media interview.

But despite his privileged birth — he described himself as “upper class” — he felt no allegiance to the North’s leadership.

“Inside the North, people, and especially the younger generation, are indifferent to each other, politics, and their leaders, and there is no sense of loyalty.”

He was “indifferent” to the rule of Kim Jong-un, the third generation of the Kim family to lead the North, and had no interest in how his friends felt about it.

“Probably 80 per cent of my generation is indifferent and has no loyalty,” he was quoted as saying.

“It is natural to have no interest nor loyalty since the hereditary system is taken as a given, regardless of its inability to feed people.”

Oh denied media reports in the South that he was wanted for murder in the North.

After some unspecified trouble with friends, the Sankei said, he started drinking. On his way back to his post he broke through a checkpoint and, fearing execution, decided to keep going.

“I feared I could be executed if I went back so I crossed the border,” he was quoted as saying, adding he had no regrets about defecting.

The newspaper said Japanese intelligence officials had confirmed Oh’s identity.

A short clip posted by the Sankei Shimbun on its website shows him wearing a black jacket and a white top, speaking with a slight North Korean accent. His face is not revealed.

‘Heavy punishment’

Seoul’s unification ministry — which handles inter-Korean affairs including the resettlement of defectors — declined to comment on the interview and said it does not keep tabs on defectors after they are released from resettlement centres.

Lee Cook-jong, the South Korean doctor who treated Oh, told a radio interview last month that the defector had secured a job and bought a car, adding he had nearly lost his North Korean accent.

The geopolitical landscape around the Korean peninsula has shifted dramatically since last year when US President Donald Trump threatened to rain “fire and fury” on the nuclear-armed North Korea.

“I really felt that we were on the verge of war with the US,” Oh was quoted as saying.

“The tension (that I felt) trickled down from the top.”

Now a rapid rapprochement has taken hold on the peninsula and troops in the border truce village where he defected are to be disarmed.

Oh said he understands the former comrades who shot him.

“If they didn’t shoot they would face heavy punishment,” he said. “So if I was them, I would have done the same.” — AFP

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 15:14:18 +0800defector,donald trump,kim jong-un,defect,kim jong-un,kim jong-un,lee cook-jong,oh chong songhttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694939/dozens-arrested-around-flashpoint-indian-temple
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694939/dozens-arrested-around-flashpoint-indian-templeIndian police sit in front of a closed shop during a statewide strike called by Hindu groups in Adur in the southern state of Kerala on November 17, 2018. — AFP pic

KERALA, Nov 19 — Indian police arrested 68 people taking part in protests around a controversial Hindu temple ahead of a Supreme Court ruling today on whether it should be given more time to let women enter.

The Sabarimala temple in the southern state of Kerala has become a major battleground between Hindu radicals and gender activists.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims have thronged to the hilltop shrine since it reopened Friday amid unprecedented security.

The region has been increasingly tense with Hindu organisations and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposing the Supreme Court order to let women in the temple. There have been several protests and strikes.

Many pilgrims going to Sabarimala have also complained about restrictions on their movement during the new clampdown.

The Kerala government sent thousands of police to the region fearing a repeat of pitch battles between devotees and security forces in October, when the temple first reopened after the Supreme Court ordered the lifting of a longstanding ban on women of “menstruating age” between the ages of 10 and 50.

The ban reflected an old but still prevalent view in some areas that connects menstruation with impurity in Hinduism.

Police said many of those arrested late yesterday had been protesting against a ban on spending the night on the hilltop around the temple.

Media showed images of shirtless devotees — following the pilgrimage tradition — chanting mantras as they faced off with police.

About 700 women have registered to pray at the temple over coming weeks however none has yet made it to the hilltop.

Protesters stopped one leading woman activist from leaving the state’s main airport to get to Sabarimala.

The board which manages Sabarimala temple will today ask the Supreme Court for more time to admit women, citing a lack of infrastructure.

In January, the country’s highest court will also hear challenges to its decision to lift the ban on women. — AFP

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:58:11 +0800police,india,hindu,kerala,sabarimala,temoplehttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694936/toll-rises-to-77-in-deadliest-california-wildfire
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694936/toll-rises-to-77-in-deadliest-california-wildfireUS President Donald Trump speaks after a day of touring neighbourhoods devastated by the wildfires at Naval Air Station Point Mugu near Malibu, California, November 17, 2018. — Reuters pic

PARADISE, Nov 19 — The toll from the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history rose further yesterday to 77, the sheriff’s office said.

“One human remain was located today,” raising the toll by one in the so-called Camp Fire which broke out 10 days ago in northern California, a statement from the Butte County Sheriff said.

The number of people unaccounted for has fallen to 993, down from a peak of more than 1,200, the statement added.

More than 10,000 homes have been destroyed in the blaze which has devoured an area roughly the size of Chicago, and essentially wiped the community of Paradise off the map.

Thousands fled and many found temporary refuge at churches or in tents.

US President Donald Trump surveyed the remains of Paradise during a visit on Saturday, and also toured the damage from another fire further south in Malibu, where three people died. — AFP

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:42:46 +0800us,usa,wildfire,california,donald trump,paradisehttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694930/us-army-unfurls-miles-of-fencing-along-border-with-mexico
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694930/us-army-unfurls-miles-of-fencing-along-border-with-mexicoUS border patrol agents gather to look over the border fence between Mexico and the United States, where they expect a large group of caravan migrants to gather on Sunday, at Border State Park in San Diego, California, November 16, 2018. — Reuters pic

LAREDO, Nov 19 — They started work in the cool of the morning and moved quickly, uncoiling reel after reel of vicious-looking fencing and tying it with barbed wire to green poles hammered into the ground.

Over the course of three days, a gleaming, shoulders-high barrier of concertina-wire emerged like a silver snake along a lush riverbank, stretching as far as the eye could see.

This was the work of 100 or so American troops from the 19th Engineer Battalion, based in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Rather than finding themselves in a far-off warzone, the soldiers are in Laredo, a busy border town overlooking a stretch of the Rio Grande river in southwest Texas, carrying out controversial orders from President Donald Trump.

He has sent about 5,800 troops to the border to forestall the arrival of large groups of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico and towards the US, in a move critics decry as a costly political stunt to galvanize supporters ahead of midterm elections earlier this month.

Before the election Trump called the matter a “national emergency” and warned that so-called migrant caravans were an “invasion” with “some very bad thugs and gang members.”

So far at least, the most visible aspect of Trump’s deployment is the fence, a visible deterrent and physical obstacle to migrants, designed to corral would-be asylum seekers towards organized points of entry into the US.

Residents with cakes

Over the weekend, Lieutenant Alan Koepnick’s platoon could be seen stringing concertina wire, which is built to snag clothing, along one edge of a quiet riverside park near downtown Laredo.

As families walked dogs, grilled sausages and relaxed, the soldiers mounted the wire, occasionally ripping their camouflaged uniforms on its metal barbs.

Koepnick said some Laredo residents had voiced disquiet about the fencing and the presence of US troops.

About 100 yards (meters) behind him, a group of people on the Mexican side of the river could be seen standing on the bank.

“You’ll see people across the river cursing at us in Spanish, throwing bottles at us. But on this side it’s more positive,” Koepnick said.

He and his soldiers were unarmed, but a group of armed military police officers stood by to provide “force protection.”

Under US law, the military is not allowed to conduct domestic law enforcement in most cases, so soldiers here will not have any direct interactions with migrants.

Trump created a media whirlwind by sounding the alarm about the migrant caravans before the November 6 elections. He has mainly stopped raising it since, though last week he praised the military’s work.

“They built great fencing, they built a very powerful fence,” said Trump, who wants to build a hardened wall along the entire 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border.

Laura Pole, a British tourist visiting Laredo for the third time, was less enthusiastic.

“It reminds me of Hitler and the concentration camps,” she said, but added: “I really don’t know what’s the best thing to do.”

No risk of combat

The border mission has put the supposedly non-political military in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has hit back at critics who say the Pentagon should not be doing Trump’s political bidding, saying “we don’t do stunts”.

He visited troops on the border last week and reiterated that their job in the short term was to assist under-resourced Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and put up physical obstacles.

But “longer term, it’s somewhat to be determined,” he said.

After some rank-and-file troops grumbled about the purpose of the mission to US media last week, they are now under strict instructions not to voice personal opinions to the press.

Several soldiers AFP spoke to said their time on the border provided valuable real-world training, albeit without the risks of combat.

“We have a very large group of brand-new soldiers and it’s really good for them,” Corporal Samuel Fletcher said, citing a chance for the green troops “to do real work and put their skills to use.”

Focus on Tijuana

In Laredo, large groups of migrants from the caravans in Mexico had not arrived.

Instead they were mainly headed to Tijuana, about 1,300 miles away in San Diego, where authorities say more than 3,000 have already arrived.

Still, a CBP agent, who was not authorized to give his name, said he was glad of the military assistance as each day, “hundreds” of migrants attempt to cross the approximately 30-mile stretch of border he patrols.

The military deployment is set to wrap up December 15 and it is not clear what will become of the wire fencing.

Already, the winds whistling down the Rio Grande valley are strewing trash, clothing and plastic bags along the jagged wire.

HONG KONG, Nov 19 — Three leading Hong Kong democracy campaigners pleaded not guilty this morning to public nuisance charges over their involvement in massive rallies calling for political reform, as room for opposition in the semi-autonomous city shrinks under an assertive China.

The pioneering trio are among nine activists all facing “public nuisance” charges for their participation in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests. The charges are based on colonial-era law and carry jail terms of up to seven years.

Sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 59, law professor Benny Tai, 54, and baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, 74, founded the “Occupy Central” movement in 2013 and joined with the student-led Umbrella Movement which brought parts of the city to a standstill for months, calling for free elections for the city’s leader.

Prosecutor Andrew Bruce argued that the mass protests had caused a “common injury done to the public”, who had been affected by the blockage of major roads.

He accused the trio of taking part in and supporting the demonstration “by way of unlawful obstruction of public places and roads”.

Occupy Central called for the occupation of Hong Kong’s business district if the public was not given a fair vote for the city’s leader, who is appointed by a pro-Beijing committee.

It was overtaken by the student movement that exploded in September 2014 when police fired tear gas on gathering crowds.

The Occupy trio urged people to join what became known as the Umbrella Movement as protesters used umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and pepper spray.

The movement failed to win reform and since then activists have been prosecuted, with some jailed.

‘Chilling prosecution’

Professor Chan gave a farewell talk Wednesday night to a full house of more than 600 people at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he has been teaching for over two decades.

“So long as we are not crushed by imprisonment and trial and do not become overly frustrated and angry, then we will become stronger and we can inspire many more people,” he told the audience, announcing his early retirement from next year.

“Only in the darkest hours, we can see the stars.”

He told AFP that he had prepared for the physical and mental challenges of possible jail time by taking up marathon running.

Chu, who has been unwell but attended Chan’s talk, said the trio had “prepared to walk on this path”.

“We were always willing to be sacrificed in order to wake up the people,” Chu told AFP.

Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, two systems” arrangement since it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.

It allows far greater civil liberties than on the Chinese mainland, but there are growing fears those freedoms are being eroded.

Ahead of the trial, rights groups had urged authorities to drop what Amnesty International called the “chilling prosecution” of the nine activists, a group that includes lawmakers, student leaders and pro-democracy party campaigners.

Man-kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, warned there would be a “real danger” of more prosecutions for peaceful activism if the case was successful.

Human Rights Watch said the prosecutions raised further questions about how far authorities are trying to “politicise the courts”.

The trial at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court is expected to last 20 days. — AFP

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:27:27 +0800china,hong kong,benny tai,umbrella,chan kin-man,chu yiu-minghttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694923/chinese-city-urges-those-poisoned-by-extremism-who-follow-conservative-isla
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694923/chinese-city-urges-those-poisoned-by-extremism-who-follow-conservative-islaBeijing described the assault, the first blamed on Uighurs outside Xinjiang, as ‘terrorism’ and said separatists backed by the militant East Turkestan Islamic Movement were responsible. —AFP pic

BEIJING, Nov 19 — A city in China’s far-western Xinjiang region has ordered people who are “poisoned by extremism, terrorism and separatism”, in contact with overseas terror groups or act in a conservative Islamic manner, to turn themselves in to authorities.

Those who surrender to judicial organs within 30 days and confess to their crimes will be treated leniently and might avoid punishment, said a notice posted yesterday on the official social media account of the Hami city government.

Beijing has in recent months faced an outcry from activists, academics and foreign governments over mass detentions and strict surveillance of the Muslim Uighur minority and other ethnic groups that live in Xinjiang.

China rejects the criticism, saying that it protects the religion and culture of minorities in the region and that its security measures are needed to combat the influence of “extremist” groups that incite violence there.

“All individuals involved in terrorist crimes and poisoned by the ‘three evil forces’ are urged to surrender themselves to the judicial organs within 30 days and to confess and hand over the facts of your crime,” said the Hami city notice.

The notice issued by the municipal “leading small group for stability maintenance” says that actions ranging from being in contact with overseas “terror” groups to conservative Islamic behaviour should prompt individuals to turn themselves in.

Advocating that people live their entire lives in accordance with the Koran, stopping other people from watching television, or banning alcohol, smoking and dancing at weddings are listed as behaviours that should warrant informing the authorities.

The list also included openly destroying, rejecting or thwarting the government identification system, as well as rejecting government provided housing, subsidies and cigarettes or booze as being “harem” or forbidden.

Those who turn themselves in on time will be treated leniently, and if the information provides a significant clue, then they might avoid all punishment, the notice said.

In August, a United Nations human rights panel said it had received many credible reports that a million or more Uighurs and other minorities are being held in what resembles a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy” in Xinjiang.

China says it is not enforcing arbitrary detention and political re-education.

Aside from the mass detentions, rights groups also say that the Chinese government has significantly raised limitations on everyday religious observances in the region.

Last month, the region’s capital Urumqi launched a campaign targeting halal products, like food and toothpaste, which are produced according to Islamic law, in order to prevent what it sees as the incursion of Islam into secular life. — Reuters

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:21:24 +0800china,islam,xinjiang,uighurhttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694842/mexican-drug-lord-beltran-leyva-dead-at-56-of-cardiac-arrest
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694842/mexican-drug-lord-beltran-leyva-dead-at-56-of-cardiac-arrestSoldiers escort head of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel Hector Beltran Leyva in Mexico City, in this handout picture taken October 1, 2014 and released to Reuters on October 2, 2014 by the Attorney-General's Office. — Reuters pic

MEXICO CITY, Nov 19 — Hector Beltran Leyva, a Mexican drug lord whose cartel earned a reputation as one of the country’s most vengeful and ruthless, died late last night in hospital of cardiac arrest after being transferred from jail with chest pain, Mexican authorities said.

Beltran Leyva had been incarcerated since March 2, 2016 in Federal Prison Number 1, a maximum security facility in central Altiplano, Mexico, where he was facing federal prosecution for various crimes, the Mexico Interior Ministry said in a statement announcing the death.

Nicknamed “the H,” according to the statement, Beltran Leyva’s capture in 2014 near a town where he had posed as an art and real estate dealer was seen as a major victory for Mexican authorities in their decade-long war against drug gangs. The snaring of the Beltran Leyva cartel’s boss dealt a serious blow to a drug gang named after a group of brothers who became infamous for the bloody turf war waged with their former ally, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Guzman is currently facing trial for drug trafficking in federal court in Brooklyn.

Authorities said Beltran Leyva, 56, was transferred yesterday from prison to hospital minutes after security officers noticed he had severe pain in his chest that did not respond to first aid from prison doctors.

The statement “noted that, at all times, Beltran Leyva ... received the medical attention he required and that the staff of the hospital as well as the federal center, exhausted all the clinical resources at its disposal”. — Reuters

HONG KONG, Nov 19 — More than 100 protesters rallied outside a Hong Kong court early this morning in support of three leaders of the Chinese-ruled city’s 2014 civil disobedience “Occupy” movement who face charges related to public nuisance.

Law professor Benny Tai, 54, sociologist professor Chan Kin-man, 59, and retired pastor Chu Yiu-ming, 74, face three charges of conspiracy to commit public nuisance, incitement to commit public nuisance, and incitement to incite public nuisance.

Each charge carries a maximum jail term of seven years. Six others are also charged in a case that comes as the financial hub’s civil liberties are coming under increasing strain.

The protesters waved yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, and pumped their fists as they chanted: “I want universal suffrage.”

Another protester held an umbrella with the words: “Power to the People”.

In 2013, the trio began promulgating and planning a non-violent civil disobedience campaign to occupy streets in the city’s central business district should China not allow a truly democratic vote for its next leader.

The “Occupy” campaign germinated in September 2014 and became part of what grew into the biggest populist challenge to China’s Communist party leaders since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing in 1989.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong in sustained and continuous occupations of major roads for close to three months.

The six other defendants include veteran democratic party member Lee Wing-tat, democratic lawmaker Tanya Chan, activist Raphael Wong and student leaders Tommy Cheung and Eason Chung.

The case could have repercussions for hundreds of other protesters who have not yet been charged.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula, with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy and freedoms denied citizens in mainland China, including freedom of speech and the right to protest.

However, critics that include foreign governments, business groups and activists say that the guarantee is ringing increasingly hollow.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned in a report to Congress last week that China had “ramped up its interference” towards Hong Kong and had “closed down the political space for prodemocracy activists to express discontent”. — Reuters

COX’S BAZAR, Nov 19 — Bangladesh’s plans to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis are set to be stalled until the new year with repatriation and relocation programmes only likely be revisited after year-end general elections, a top Bangladeshi official said yesterday.

Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Reuters “a new course of action” needed to be adopted on repatriation that took into account refugees’ key demands. He later clarified these were his own personal views and not those of the government.

More than 720,000 Rohingya fled a sweeping army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017, according to U.N. agencies. The crackdown was launched in response to insurgent Rohingya attacks on security forces.

Rohingya refugees say soldiers and Buddhist civilians killed families, burned many villages and carried out gang rapes. U.N-mandated investigators have accused Myanmar’s army of “genocidal intent” and ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has denied almost all the accusations, saying its forces engaged in a counter-insurgency operation against “terrorists”.

In late October, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed to begin to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled, but the plan has been opposed by the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the U.N. refugee agency and aid groups, who fear for the safety of Rohingya in Myanmar.

The repatriation of the first batch of 2,200 refugees was to begin officially on Nov. 15, but it stalled amid protests at the refugee camps. None of those on the list agreed to return if their demands for justice, citizenship and the ability to go back to their original villages and lands were not met.

“I don’t think anyone’s agreeing to go back without these,” said Kalam, who last week called on the international community to pressure Myanmar to accept certain “logical and acceptable” demands in order for any repatriation to take place.

Myanmar does not consider the Rohingya a native ethnic group and calls them “Bengalis”, suggesting they belong in Bangladesh. It has agreed to take the Rohingya back and said they would need to accept the National Verification Card, which it says would allow Rohingya to apply for citizenship. The Rohingya reject the card, saying it brands them foreigners.

Kalam said he believed Myanmar needed to propose a “clearer path” to citizenship for the Rohingya if any returns were to take place, adding he would raise the matter at the next bilateral meeting on repatriation, likely to take place next month.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay was not reachable yesterday for comment.

With Bangladesh now set to go to the polls on Dec. 30, any decision either to repatriate people, or relocate refugees from the crowded camps to Bangladesh’s Bhasan Char island will not proceed until 2019, Kalam said, adding later a final decision had not been taken and it would be the government’s call.

“Elections are coming up now, so the government will only finalise a future course of action after the elections,” said Kalam.

Bangladesh has vowed not to force anyone to return and has asked the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure those short-listed to return really want to go back.

A UNHCR spokesman said it was not clear when repatriations could begin. “At this moment it’s unclear, perhaps we can get clarity in the next few days.”

Some Rohingya refugee leaders in Bangladesh said they were relieved Bangladesh had not forced refugees to return and called for the repatriation plan to be revised.

Kalam said construction work on alternative housing on Bhasan Char was “nearly complete”.

He said he was hopeful some refugees would agree to move, given the island’s “livelihood opportunities” such as fishing and farming. Aid agencies express caution as the island is prone to flooding.

“The possibility of refugees being relocated to the island until elections are over is slim,” Kalam later added. — Reuters

]]>Mon, 19 Nov 2018 09:36:01 +0800islam,myanmar,bangladesh,muslim,rohingya,unhcr,un high commissioner for refugeeshttps://www.malaymail.com/s/1694816/woman-who-lost-fiance-in-lion-air-crash-pleads-for-safe-planes
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1694816/woman-who-lost-fiance-in-lion-air-crash-pleads-for-safe-planesA wedding photo of the bride of a Lion Air flight JT610 victim, who carried on the celebration despite the absence of the groom, in Bangka, Bangka Belitong Province, Indonesia November 11, 2018. — LALA INDRA PERMANA/via Reuters pic

JAKARTA, Nov 19 — An Indonesian woman whose fiance was among 189 people killed when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Jakarta last month implored authorities to improve the safety and regulation of the country’s airlines.

Intan Indah Syari had been due to marry her high-school sweetheart, Rio Nanda Pratama, who was a doctor, on November 11.

Photographs of Syari wearing her white wedding dress, alone, on the day of their planned ceremony went viral on social media with thousands of likes and an outpouring of sympathetic comments from around the world.

“I want him, now that he is on the other side, to know that I’m happy. This was to pay him my last respects,” Syari said, explaining her decision to wear the dress and how her fiance’s last wish had been to see photos of her in the gown.

“We had been waiting for this moment for 13 years, including six years in a long distance relationship, but at the end I lost my fiance,” she told Reuters, speaking softly.

Syari said she had kept calling his mobile phone on the days immediately after the Oct. 29 crash, clinging to a faint hope that he might be still alive.

His body was later identified and search officials found his shoes, as well as a bag and paperwork belonging to him.

Indonesian investigators are due to publish a preliminary report on the crash later this month in a bid to explain why the nearly new Boeing Co 737 MAX jet slammed violently into the sea during clear weather.

Pratama’s father has filed a US lawsuit against Boeing, alleging it did not adequately warn Lion Air or its pilots of an unsafe design condition. Boeing is headquartered in Illinois.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines last week that erroneous inputs from the system’s sensors could lead the jet to automatically pitch its nose down even when autopilot is turned off, making it difficult for pilots to control.

Urging regulators to prevent any recurrence of such a crash, Syari said that all her hopes and dreams had been shattered.

“Please improve the regulation of the aviation industry, in terms of safety and inspections, before a flight takes off,” she said. “If a flight is not fit to fly, please do not let it leave.” — Reuters

LONDON, Nov 19 — British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was to visit Iran for the first time today for talks about the nuclear deal and freeing UK nationals held in Iranian jails.

Iran has been abiding by the terms of its nuclear deal with global powers, the latest report from the UN atomic watchdog indicated last week, days after fresh US sanctions hit the country.

US President Donald Trump has dramatically increased pressure on Tehran, withdrawing from an international agreement aimed at ending its nuclear programme and introducing several rounds of unilateral sanctions.

Hunt’s visit is the first by a Western foreign minister since the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal.

“The Iran nuclear deal remains a vital component of stability in the Middle East by eliminating the threat of a nuclearised Iran,” Hunt said, in a statement issued in London.

“It needs 100 per cent compliance though to survive. We will stick to our side of the bargain as long as Iran does.

“But we also need to see an end to destabilising activity by Iran in the rest of the region if we are going to tackle the root causes of the challenges the region faces.”

Hunt was to meet Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks on European efforts to maintain relief from nuclear-related sanctions.

Hunt was also due to discuss Iran’s role in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and the ongoing cases of detained British-Iranian dual nationals.

One notable case is that of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is serving a five-year jail sentence for alleged sedition.

“More than anything, we must see those innocent British-Iranian dual nationals imprisoned in Iran returned to their families in Britain,” he said.

“I have just heard too many heartbreaking stories from families who have been forced to endure a terrible separation.

“So I arrive in Iran with a clear message for the country’s leaders: putting innocent people in prison cannot and must not be used as a tool of diplomatic leverage.”

On Yemen, Hunt was to stress concerns at reports that Iran has supplied ballistic missiles and weapons to the Huthi rebels, his ministry said. — AFP